Assignment Question

As an HR professional, we need to provide policies and practices which will enable us to get the best performance from our employees. As an HR professional what can we do to ensure that this happens?

Looking at an organisation which you are familiar with and their HR strategy please provide a critical review of:

• The methods they employ to engage and retain employees? Is this effective?

• What is the reward strategy currently used by the organisation? How is the effectiveness of these methods monitored and reviewed? Has this been found to be effective?

Provide recommendations for increasing the performance of employees within the organisation based upon the review carried out.

(Draw on your learning from Unit 5 – 9 and brainstorming activity in unit 5 to make use of frameworks, theories and best practice to support your ideas).

Word Count: 2,000 words  (The report is 2,000 words and then the reflective statement is an additional 200 words. See below for details of a reflective statement.)

Solution:

Introduction

The policies and practices of human resources management are the principles that a company follows in the management of its employees (O'Dea, 2017). It provides Human Resource professionals with detailed guidance on different job issues and helps in defining the company’s purpose with regard to multiple facets of human resource management including recruiting, promotion, compensation, training, selection etc. They are benchmarks for designing strategies in human resources or for deciding about the employees of a corporation (Anderson, 2014).A successful Human resource policy offers extensive input on the strategy to be followed by the company’s workers in their different job roles. All across companies, there are specific situations, and a set of unique organizational policies that are created to meet the needs of such situations (Pravin, 2010). Therefore the aim of this report is to provide a critical review of the methods Nestle Plc employs in engaging and retaining its employees, showing how effective it is, what reward strategy Nestle Plc is currently using, How the effectiveness of the methods are monitored and reviewed, and also how effective the method has been.

About Nestle Nigeria Plc.

Nestlé Nigeria PLC is among Africa’s largest beverages industries. Nestlé have been in the production of excellent standard nutritionally balanced products for customers in Africa for over decades. The corporation manufactures and distributes many famous brands, comprising Maggi, Milo, Golden Morn, Nescafe and Nestlé Pure Life, with more than 2,300 staff, 3 production plants, 8 branches and a headquarters situated in Lagos. The goal of Nestle is to enhance the health and wellbeing of the society. The corporation supports the environment whilst achieving the company's long-term sustainability (Tay & Diener, 2011).

Nestles attitude towards business is in a prolong strategy. They have always been of the opinion that that the business success is in the creation of value for their stakeholders and their environment.  The technique they employed for corporate activities was called Creating Shared Value (CSV) (Chiang &Birtch, 2010).

Creating Shared Value (CSV) at Nestlé ties both industry and environment by enhancing greater financial advantage, in a manner which still increases social value. Nestle was positive that the success of the corporation will be guaranteed by developing values both for their shareholders and their environment. (Pınar, 2011).

The methods employed by Nestle Plc to engage and retain employees

i. Good working conditions

Nestle Plc is a major adopter of two factor theories of Herzberg (Hygiene and Motivation) that believe in a healthy and sanitary workforce environment which minimizes workforce dissatisfaction (Herzberg, Mausner& Snyderman, 2010).  Nestle has dedicated itself to offering quality work environment, a conducive and restorative workplace as well as a flexible job prospects for its staff throughout the globe, which adequately bring an equilibrium between personal and business life in line with Nestle 's vision as the largest wellness and nutrition corporation (Kenrick, Neuberg, Griskevicius, Becker & Schaller, 2010). However, Nestlé’s engagement extends far beyond its staff.  They are meticulous about anyone operating within or without the premises of the organization under contractual agreements with suppliers of services and Nestle also insist on taking steps to ensure appropriate conditions for their jobs (Muchinsky, 2012).

ii. Employee rewards

Nestle Plc has been able to retain its workforce with the use of efficiency wage theory, which believes that an increase in salary will improve efficiency of the workforce. However, Nestle focal point is on good salary pay, flexible compensation and benefits, personal success and advancement which serveas a key factor in describing Total Rewards (Nguwi, 2013). At Nestlé's plc, recruitment and retention of existing workforce are not only through salary and bonuses, but also the well-deserveddeference and respect the image of the brand gives to those employed with the corporation, alsorecognition and personal achievementare also experienced when employed with Nestle Plc (Nguwi, 2013).